City scrutinizing some construction-related permits ahead of NATO

Building industry says it is unclear what will be allowed leading up to May summit

April 21, 2012|By Kathy Bergen, Chicago Tribune reporter

Magellan Development Group says it’s been in talks with the FBI and Secret Service about construction activity on its Coast tower at 345 E. Wacker Drive. Coast "is in a ground zero location, near various hotels that will be hosting diplomatic people" for the Nato summit in May, says Renee Wersching, Magellan vice president of property management. (Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune)

Downtown construction projects may need to slow down due to the NATO summit in May as city officials are casting a more critical eye on certain permit requests.

Permits to use the public right of way, whether streets, alleys or sidewalks, for projects during May are getting "an extra layer of review," said Peter Scales, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation, which issues such permits.

The requests are being flagged "to figure out whether they will potentially interfere with traffic needs," he said, adding that no permit requests have been denied at this point.

The affected area is bounded by North Avenue on the north, 35th Street on the south, Ashland Avenue on the west and Lake Michigan on the east.

A number of construction industry players said they are getting stronger signals from City Hall, with some saying they were informed that there would be a moratorium on public way permits downtown from May 1-29. The NATO summit will be at McCormick Place May 20-21.

"Right now there is not a lot of major new construction in that vicinity, but anybody trying to do anything, from small curb cuts to cuts in the street for water or sewer ... would not be able to do that," said Chris Chwedyk, director of the code group for Burnham Nationwide, a company that helps developers get municipal permit approvals. Some buildings have been asked to take down their scaffolding, he said.

City officials said there is no moratorium in effect, either for public way permits or building permits.

"We are operating as normal," said Caroline Weisser, a spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings, which issues building permits.

Throughout the preparations for the international summit, which is expected to draw high-level delegations from more than 60 countries, host committee officials have encouraged downtown businesses to function as usual.

"I think most people feel very, very comfortable that Chicago is open for business," host committee executive director Lori Healey said Thursday at a briefing for the Niagara Foundation, a group that promotes global fellowship.

But a number of individuals in the building development and maintenance industries say they continue to have questions about what will be permitted in the summit period.

BOMA/Chicago, a building industry group, has sent letters seeking more information from city officials, said Michael Cornicelli, executive vice president.

"There are concerns about scaffolding," he said. "Some of our members have been told the city won't issue permits for that." The group has questions on whether facade maintenance, window-washing and other work over public ways will be permitted, he said.

Chicago's NATO host committee has had three meetings with BOMA, and plans continual communication with construction companies leading up to the summit, said spokeswoman Jennifer Martinez.

The city is reviewing public way permit requests on an individual basis, Scales said.

Magellan Development Group LLC said it postponed such a request until the fall after discussions with the city indicated a permit would not be granted in May. The company put off exterior work at the Shoreham, a luxury rental tower at 400 E. South Water St. in the Lakeshore East development, said Renee Wersching, vice president of property management.

Magellan also has been in talks with the FBI and Secret Service regarding construction activity on a 499-unit apartment building going up at 345 E. Wacker Drive, Wersching said. "The procedures are still kind of fluid," she said.

The building, Coast, also at Lakeshore East, "is in a ground zero location, near various hotels that will be hosting diplomatic people," she said.

The city also is asking developers to further secure their work sites. At Fifield Cos.' K Station development in the West Loop, for instance, builders were asked to lock the hatch that leads to the driver's cab on the cranes during off-hours, noted Alan Schachtman, who is managing that project.

"That's something we usually don't do," he said. "People usually don't get up that high."